


The Art of Convincing

by zarabithia



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-07
Updated: 2014-01-07
Packaged: 2018-01-07 20:14:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1123925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zarabithia/pseuds/zarabithia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pepper doesn't plan on falling in love with Bruce.  Tony probably doesn't mean to, either.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Art of Convincing

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lyricalnights](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lyricalnights/gifts).



> This fic does have references to PTSD, panic attacks, and nightmares.

The first person that Pepper has to convince is herself. 

Falling in love with Tony is expected. In fact, falling in love with Tony is so easy that Pepper legitimately does not understand how more people don't fall in love with him. 

He's frustrating. He's annoying. He forgets what types of foods she's allergic to. He buys her presents that are giant eye-sores. He announces their address to a terrorist and gets their house blown up in the process. He builds armors that attack her in the middle of the night and give Pepper nightmares. He gets into situations that have caused Pepper to think that he's dead or dying more times than Pepper can count.

(That's not true. She can count. Of course she can. She got her job by being able to count _more efficiently_ than Tony could; but she doesn't want to count all those almost deaths.) 

But all of those things being true, she knew she was in trouble the second week of working with him. She'd known, even then, that this one was more special, kinder, gentler, _better in every way_ than Killian had been.

So when she does lose her heart to Tony, it is not a surprise. It is not a surprise, despite the fact that she fights it with everything in her - because there have been others who have dealt with most of the things that come after "he's frustrating" and Pepper has had a front row seat to those relationships.

She talks to Rhodey every day; she sends Bethany Christmas cards. 

Maybe that's why she doesn't see herself falling in love with Bruce right away. It's unexpected, because it isn't difficult. Pepper has spent the better part of two years working _hard_ in a relationship that is absolutely worth all the effort that they put into it by the time that she meets Bruce Banner. 

She doesn't have to put up any walls. She doesn't have to put up any defenses. She doesn't go to bed and wonder what it would be like to just let _go_ and claim what she wants the way she did when she was falling in love with Tony. 

But she still falls in love with Bruce, anyway. 

~

The first time that Pepper meets Bruce Banner is when he comes to Stark Tower after the incident with the Killian and Trevor. 

She's certainly heard of him before that; Tony has talked about him continuously since the _incident_ with the Avengers Initiative. 

"He's amazing. We had a little buddy buddy car trip, you know? It's like conversing with Reed Richards, if Reed Richards actually acknowledged that you were in the room. Or, Hank Pym, if he wasn't in love with that Scott Lang kid," Tony tells her when she is in the middle of yelling at him for almost dying.

(Again.)

In the days following the Incident in New York, Bruce Banner is the only Avenger that Tony can even mention without having a panic attack. He does not mention Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, or Hawkeye. Doing so either puts Tony into a full panic attack or he simply gets into the kind of negative head space that sends him into the lab for hours.

Mentioning Banner, on the other hand, immediately sends Tony into the kind of long, science-filled conversations that Pepper does not particularly care about, beyond the fact that they make Tony happy. So in the beginning, she treats conversations about Bruce Banner the same as Tony treats her comments about the latest Van Dyne originals. 

"The true measure of how much you love someone is when you can listen to them prattle on for hours about things you don't care about, Virginia," her grandmother had once said. "Don't let it be your whole life, but if it's not at least part of your life, one of you isn't worth it." 

So Bruce Banner is something of a normal conversation piece in their lives by the time that Pepper meets him for the first time. 

Through Tony she has met people like Reed Richards and Maya Hansen, both of whom are as much business-oriented when as they are scientists. When she opens the door to Bruce Banner, it is immediately obvious that he is not.

"Sorry for the smell," he says sheepishly when he shows up. "I've been in a place without showers for three weeks." 

He doesn't sound apologetic about that fact, but he does seem apologetic about the fact that it might bring her discomfort. 

"Luckily for you, our tower has some amazing showers," she says. 

"I hope you have amazing washing machines, too," Bruce says. 

"We do. And while they wash, we even have spare clothes that Tony swears will fit you," Pepper reveals. "As long as you like Van Dyne originals."

"Janet is a lovely woman," Bruce says with genuine warmth, and that is how Pepper knows they are going to be friends.

As that first day turns into the first night, getting Tony to come to bed is surprisingly easy. He lies on his back, watching her change into her night clothes. 

"Rhodey seems to like him," Tony says. "Which is great, because my BFFs need to like each other, and I worried, you know, with the whole military thing between them."

"It's not as though Rhodey hasn't questioned orders before," Pepper reminds him. 

"True. He couldn't be my best friend if he was some lame Captain America flunky of the government," Tony says flippantly. "But more importantly, did you like him? Banner, I mean, not Rhodey, because obviously you like Rhodey." 

"Who wouldn't like Rhodey?" Pepper teases, and she sees just a hint of worry cross Tony's face. It's a vulnerability she used to think that Tony didn't have, but these days, she is treated to proof that Tony Stark has a heart on a repeated basis. 

So she adds gently, "Of course I liked Dr. Banner." 

"You should call him Bruce," Tony tells her, when her hands are slipping up his shirt. "It's what all his friends call him." 

~

Tony lets her have a surprising amount of "alone" time with Bruce. This is surprising because Pepper rarely gets alone time with Rhodey, before Tony is trying to steal him away to be a partner in some scheme that belongs more in a bad 80s cop movie than real life. 

"I just want you to be friends," Tony says. "Rhodey's mine, and you already like him. Bruce we can share."

"I already like Dr. Banner," Pepper reassures him. 

Tony makes the face that he makes when he is trying to _not_ say the first thing that comes to mind, because he knows it will be offensive. 

"You don't call him Bruce," Tony finally says. 

The first time she calls him Bruce is over a cup of the very worst Lipton tea in the world. 

"Tony mentioned that you have terrible taste in tea," Bruce says as she comes into the kitchen, while Tony is off getting them pizza. Tony has had pizza flown in from Italy _and_ Chicago (and once, both places on the same night) before, so Pepper is aware that Tony is simply giving her "bonding time" with Banner. 

Unlike Tony, Banner actually seems to like to spend time outside of the lab without being prodded to do so. He's in the middle of making tea when he makes his announcement to Pepper, and she's pretty sure she's seen Tony make tea possibly twice.

One of those times was a desperate attempt to show her how _real_ tea is supposed to taste. 

"I'd like to argue the point, but even I know that Lipton is terrible. Sadly, some college addictions are impossible to get rid of," Pepper answers. 

"Don't I know it." Bruce looks at her over the rim of his glasses, and all of that woe and angst that the tabloids write about is completely absent from the sparkle in his eyes. "I developed an addiction to _instant Folgers_ during my grad school years. I still get a craving for it, sometimes." 

Pepper laughs as she toes off her heels. "Tony would be as ashamed of your taste as he is of mine," she mock-chides.

"What Tony doesn't know won't hurt him," Bruce says. He reaches into the grocery bag and pulls out a box of Pepper's beloved Lipton. "And I figure, we let Tony out loose on the streets of New York, chasing down a pizza. It's going to be a while before he gets back."

"Long enough for us to enjoy a cup of tea," Pepper agrees. "Oh, I do like you. You can stay in our tower as long as you want, Bruce." 

He grins at her. "Well, I do like the showers here." 

By the time that Tony makes it home with pizza, they've moved to the couch, bad Lipton tea in hand. "I should deny you both breadsticks," he says with a shake of his head. 

"But you won't," Pepper says with confidence. "Because you can't tell us no."

"It _is_ a problem," Tony acknowledges. He kisses her before sitting down between them.

~

"This whole telling you no business. I've got to get better at it," Tony protests as the opening credits to _Star Trek: The Motion Picture_ begin to roll. "Because _Star Trek_ is the worst." 

"I don't know how you can even call yourself a geek and hate _Star Trek_ ," Bruce says, and his voice is full of disapproval of the highest order. 

Pepper sits on one side of Tony, with Bruce on the other and watches them argue. It is a silly argument, but these days, Pepper takes comfort in any situation that allows them the luxury of having silly arguments over _Star Trek._

"And I don't know how you can be a scientist and even watch this crap. It shouldn't even qualify as science fiction. It's fantasy at best. The Warp Speed stuff alone - "

"Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot that light sabers were so obviously based in science _fact._ "

"Nobody pretends that _Star Wars_ is anything but fantasy, Banner. That's the difference." 

"Without _Trek_ , we wouldn't have cell phones or tablets," Banner claims. "Even if you want to argue against the science on the show, you can't argue on the impact that it has had in real life science."

"My father was making flying cars two decades before Shatner ever threw a flying leg chop," Tony grumps. "We could have invented cell phones _and_ tablets, even if Kirk hadn't gone around tearing his shirt on giant phallic looking rocks." 

"Only because the Vulcans were going back in time and selling the secrets of Velcro," Bruce argues. 

"What the hell does that even mean?" Tony throws up his hands then. "Never mind. You have terrible taste. Pepper! Back me up?" 

He turns a pout at her that has never actually worked, but it's cute that he keeps trying. 

" _Star Trek_ has Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy," Pepper points out. "All _Star Wars_ has is the 'I know' guy." 

"Hey! It has Leia," Tony argues. "And Luke. Luke is totally the Dr. McCoy to Han's Captain Kirk."

"Luke Skywalker, not really as suave as Dr. McCoy," Pepper points out. 

"That's because the closest thing _Star Wars_ has to suave is a ghost," Bruce retorts. "You know, if Betty was here, she'd also point out that _Star Trek_ never had a woman die of a broken heart."

Tony bangs his head on the back of the couch, which is fortunately imported leather, so it supports his weight well. Pepper takes that as the needed outlet to say, "How is Betty these days?" 

"She's doing well. She and Morse had their third date," Bruce says with the odd little smile that says he's happy for Betty, even if he knows that he could have been happy with her. 

Pepper leans over and squeezes his hand over Tony's lap. 

Tony is quiet for a moment, before he says. "Really, couldn't we have at least watched the one with the whales?"

~

On the night that they find out the truth about Phil, Bruce spends a long time on the phone with Betty. Pepper spends that time listening to Tony rant. 

"Okay, first of all, I expect this from Fury. Fury is - " 

"A master spy. Much like Phil is," Pepper points out, in the interest of fairness. 

Tony stands in the middle of the same room that Phil had been in, those years ago, when he'd first come to collect Tony for the New York incident. Tony's hands are on his hips, and it looks like logic is the last thing that he wants to hear. 

"It's different. I expected Fury to lie to us. I expected Coulson to be your _friend_ , because that's what he said he was." Tony walks back over to the drink that he'd poured an hour ago and takes a long drink. "He lied to you. He let you think he was dead. He _knew_ you and he had to know how that would affect you." 

"I told him a lot of things," Pepper admits. "Including the strawberry incident." 

"See? You wouldn't just tell that to anybody!" Tony says. He gestures to the room at large, as though the walls themselves should know how very angry he is at anyone remotely connected with S.H.I.E.L.D. right now. 

"I just sent him four gallons of strawberries." Pepper bites her lip. "I think that should probably express my frustration with the way things have been handled." 

"I love you," Tony says. "Especially when you are vicious." 

Bruce comes into the room then. "I'll let the two of you be vicious. Betty says I'm not allowed to complain about people going off and pretending to be dead."

"You told Dr. Ross classified information?" Tony asks. 

Bruce rolls his eyes. "You tell classified information to anyone you please, Tony." 

"That's not true! I only tell Pepper. And Rhodey. And sometimes you." 

"And Christine Everhart, that one time," Pepper reminds.

"That is a vicious rumor that can never be confirmed," Tony argues. "Just because I technically owed her a thank you for goading me in that press conference, because otherwise, I'd be saddled with that bullshit cover story that S.H.I.E.L.D. came up with - have I mentioned _lately_ how much I fucking hate that organization?" 

"A few times. In the past hour," Pepper answers. 

Tony rolls his eyes and finishes his drink. "On that note, I'm going to go tell Rhodey that he's never allowed to join S.H.I.E.L.D."

"And spill some classified information while you're there?" Bruce prompts.

"He's a colonel. I'm sure it's not above his paygrade or something," Tony argues, as he leaves the room.

"Well, that's one less nightmare on our shoulders," Bruce says thoughtfully. "At least Coulson's death isn't on my hands, too." 

"One less death can only be a good thing," Pepper agrees. 

~

Everyone expects Tony to have nightmares, and he does have them, frequently. Pepper does the best she can to help him work through them. 

"Sometimes, it's enough to make sure that you're here, and that I'm here with you," Tony says, with his arm curled tightly around her waist. 

On those nights, Pepper strokes his hair and murmurs reassurances. She's not sure that they are actually helpful, but he stays in bed, and eventually falls back to sleep. She will consider that a win.

But sometimes, she has nightmares too. Her nightmares sometimes feature armors that attack her in her sleep, a lover who doesn't come back after a sacrifice play he'd intended to be permanent, the death of a woman who could have been her friend, a fall that doesn't stop, and the betrayal of a man who had wanted to hurt her and Tony.

Killian is in a lot of nightmares; Pepper can't stay in the bedroom for those. She needs space, and air, and the assurance that a madman doesn't have her tied up against her will.

It's easier to explain this when Tony sleeps through her nightmares. The first nightmare that Pepper has after Bruce moves in, that is the fortunate case. 

But she bumps into Bruce on her way to the living room. His hands are wrapped around the one coffee cup that Tony has designated as "The Instant Folgers Cup," and he looks as happy to be awake as she feels. 

He glances up when she enters. "Lipton?" he asks with a nod to her cup.

"Keeps me from needing something stronger," she answers. 

"Want to talk about it?" 

"Not at all, actually." 

"Good." At her surprise, he laughs, though it's a bit more hollow than when he's sincere. "I'm not that kind of doctor." 

"You want to talk about yours?" 

"Are you that kind of doctor?" 

She shakes her head, and he scoots over to let her have room on the couch. Their cups make a quiet clink as they toast in the silence of the room. 

Later, when Tony comes into the room, they're both sitting on the couch together. 

"If we're going to have a puppy pile, we should really at least do it somewhere that we can all get some sleep," Tony mutters as he curls up next to Pepper.

It's meant to be an innocent comment, but Pepper doesn't stop thinking about it.

~

"Why are you bringing this up to me?" Rhodey asks in the middle of his steak. She's only gotten quiet alone time with Rhodey because Bruce has been nice enough to distract Tony for lunch. As far as benevolent favors go, few people give them quite as well as Bruce does. 

As far as well-prepared steaks go, the one that Pepper has ordered for Rhodey is from the best chef New York has to offer. Pepper believes that this is the very least she could do, when she has to ask an old friend for romantic advice. 

"Because it's something you have experience in," Pepper answers delicately. 

He rolls his eyes. It's a look he's perfected over years of knowing Tony. 

"You know the thing with Jessica and Carol didn't work out, right?" Rhodey says. 

"I know," Pepper says gently. Her own lobster tail takes some absent-minded prodding from her fork. "But I guess I need to know if the reason that it fell apart is something that will also affect ... us." 

"The reason that Carol, Jess and I didn't make it is because Carol and Jessica thought I was spending too much time on Tony, back when ... " Rhodey sighs and takes a drink of his beer. 

"Back before it was easy to convince people that spending time on Tony is worth it?" Pepper suggests. 

Her conversations with her mother go differently these days than they used to.

"Yes," Rhodey admits, and there's a smile of a proud friend on his face. It's the kind of smile that belongs on the face of a man who had believed in Tony before anyone else, and who gets to see that faith rewarded. "So no, Pepper. I don't think the reason that Carol, Jess, and I fell apart will affect the three of you. Not if it's what you all want." 

It's what she wants, Pepper realizes, over that steak with Rhodey; that is how she convinces herself. 

~

The next person she has to convince is Tony. 

"I can't believe you had _steak_ with Rhodey," Tony huffs that night, while Bruce is in one of the Tower's showers. "Without us!" 

"I don't want Bruce to leave," she says abruptly. 

"What does this have to do with Rhodey?" Tony asks, and he looks the most adorable when he is confused, Pepper thinks. "Wait, did Bruce say he was leaving? Back to India? Or Brazil? Or...wherever it was." 

"No, he didn't say anything. But the new house will be completed soon," Pepper clarifies. "When that happens, I think he should come with us. Instead of staying in our tower."

"Yeah, well, there are plenty of guest rooms, so I'm sure he'll be comfortable," Tony agrees easily. 

Pepper takes a deep breath and pushes ahead. "I don't want him to stay in a guest room, Tony."

"Oh." 

"Puppy piles," Pepper continues, but she hastily adds, "If that's what you want." 

"I love you," Tony says. "I love you and you are the best thing that has ever happened to me. I don't want to fuck this up. I don't want to fuck us up. I don't know how to answer this without fucking us up." 

"Tony." 

"I love you," he repeats. "I love you so much and the worst time in my life was when I thought I'd lost you. I would never do anything to lose you again. Not on purpose." 

She wraps her fingers around his and he lets himself be pulled closer to her. There's uncertainty all over his face.

But he hasn't said that he doesn't want this, so Pepper continues. 

"I love you too," she promises. "And all the times you keep almost dying are the worst days of my life, too." 

"Mmm, is this where I need to apologize for the whole wormhole thing again, right? I tried to call. You can ask JARVIS. JARVIS, tell Pepper that - "

"Tony," Pepper interrupts. "I love Bruce, too. And you'd never admit it, because you're so afraid of fucking this up, but I'm pretty sure that you are in love with him, too. You told us that we could share Bruce, once. I'd like to take you up on that." 

"I love you, and you are the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me," Tony repeats. "But okay." 

"Okay?"

"Okay. We can do the sharing thing. If you want. If you and Bruce want. If you both want." He takes a moment and then grins at her, a small conspiratorial smile. " _I_ want."

~

The next person they need to convince is Bruce.

They're waiting on him when he gets out of the shower and comes into the kitchen for his nighttime cup of tea. Lipton makes some truly awful herbal tea, and it is his nighttime ritual to share it with Pepper.

It's a ritual that Pepper has grown to love a lot. 

"You're going to subject yourself to the terrible smell of wretched grocery store tea?" Bruce teases Tony.

"It might be worth it tonight," Tony retorts. 

Bruce gives him a questioning look, but accepts the tea when Pepper hands him his cup.

"How's Betty?" Pepper asks. 

"She's happy," Bruce says.

"You deserve to be, too," Tony points out.

"I'd argue that point, but ..." Bruce shrugs. "I am pretty happy, actually. I'm going to miss you guys when you move into your new house." 

Pepper exchanges a look with Tony. "You won't need to miss us," she says. "You're coming with us." 

Bruce blinks at her, and blinks at her again when she squeezes the hand not holding a teacup. 

"But that's at least two months into the future," Tony says with a shrug. "Right now, puppy pile. In the bedroom. If you want." 

"If you want," Pepper agrees. 

"Might give us a good idea about any logistical changes we need to make to the new house's master bedroom," Tony adds. "If you want." 

"You can probably both stop saying 'if you want' now," Bruce answers. 

"We just want to make sure you're comfortable with ... saying whatever it is that you want to say," Tony stresses, and Pepper can hear the "I don't want to fuck this up" that he doesn't say. 

"I want to say that this might be a lot of work," Bruce answers. "And I'm not really sure how two people are supposed to do happily ever after, let alone three." 

"Well, that makes two of us," Tony says cheerfully. "Luckily, we have Pep to plan things. She's great at planing things." 

Bruce looks at her expectantly and Pepper shrugs as casually as she can. "It's something we all want. We'll make it work." 

Bruce looks back at Tony and picks up his teacup. "A toast then, to making it work?" 

"To making it work," Pepper agrees as she lifts her cup. 

"I can't believe we're toasting our relationship with shitty Lipton tea," Tony says with a sigh, but he holds up his cup. "Here's to finding a way to make it work."

~

Years later, the mention of that toast ends any of Tony's criticism towards Lipton tea.


End file.
